She fears humans, mutants fear her
by Lilith Osborn
Summary: Ever since Claire got her ability she has been on the run.When she is caught and forced to join the Brotherhood, her power baffles them.They now think they understand it, but do they?How dangerous is it?Whats happens when she gets closer to one of them?
1. Runaway

**I rated this higher than it probably should be just to be on the safe side. Some more mature stuff happens as the story goes along. The events in this story might not be in the order that they were in the movie. This is set during the third movie. I will not tell you who she ends up with because that ruins a lot of the fun of reading it. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own X men.**

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It was a full moon that night as 15 year old Claire Richards left Xavier's School for the Gifted and headed towards the nearest town. Her hunched shoulders and darting eyes showed how nervous she was and her backpack with it's stretched seams that she didn't plan on returning to the mutant school. 

As she came to the small town of Hillcrest the adrenaline rush had subsided and she realized her shoulders hurt. She sat on a bench at the corner of Jefferson and Eagle, rubbing her shoulders to try and get the blood flow back to normal.

Claire sighed deeply, wondering which way to go. North? South? East? West? She couldn't decide. There was nothing for her in any of the directions.

Gulp. Suddenly the world seemed a lot bigger than the globe in that sat on Professor Xavier's desk.

"What have I gotten myself into?" The girl whispered to herself.

"Sounds like I've found myself a kindred spirit." said a gruff female's voice from behind her. Claire jerked forward and spun her head around so fast she felt her neck pop.

"Down, girl. I won't hurt you."said the stranger. "Names' Samantha, Samantha Poulsen." She offered a gloved hand to Claire, with a small smirk. Claire stared at the hand for a moment before deciding it was safe to take it. Samantha plopped down next to the runaway and began digging through her tattered purse.

Claire wasn't sure if she should pay attention or try to ignore the newcomer. She hadn't been asked a name and didn't intend on giving it. Out of the corner of her eye she examined her company. She wore dark colors and an army jacket and her tangled brown hair made her look like she had been living in a tree for most of her life.

Samantha continued with her search for another minute before pulling out a small bag of beef jerky.

"Nothing like a midnight snack to cool your nerves." she said to no one in particular, pulling off her gloves and ripping the bag open. She stuffed a large chunk of the jerky in her mouth and then offered a handful to Claire.

Up until this point Clair hadn't said anything to Samantha. She stared at the hand. She saw the small ridges that made up the girl's fingerprint, the pink skin, a scab on one of the knuckles. Her heartbeat quickened and her mouth watered. She hadn't eaten for hours.

"No thank you." She said, suddenly very interested in her surroundings.

Samantha squinted a bit and her chewing slowed to a more calculating pace. They shared an uncomfortable silence for as the two sized each other up. Claire finally decided in a course of action.

She began standing up, not meeting Samantha's eyes "Well, it was nice meeting you, um-" She grabbed her bag but to leave but Samantha had a hand on it already. Claire tensed, eyes darting to her face, looking for signs of a threat.

Samantha's eyes looked hungry, a nefarious grin spreading across her dirty face."You're one of them, aren't you."

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Next Chapter: **_No, no no._ Claire thought, sure she was about to be experimented on. She hated using her powers, refused to use them but she was sure these people wouldn't let her go if she didn't get away right away.**

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	2. Meeting Magneto

Claire felt her stomach turn, her body stiffen. Her natural reaction was ignorance.

"I don't know what you're talking about." she pulled on her bag but Samantha tightened her grip. The horrible grin grew until she was near ecstatic.

"You're one of those freaks from that mutant school, aren't you?"

"How dare you even accuse me of such a thing!" yelled Claire, looking appalled at the idea.

"What're you doing out so late _monster_? You looking for someone like me to feed off of?"

"That's disgusting-"

"What's in the bag, torture devices? You going to dissect me?"

"You're insane!" Claire yelled.

"Oh?" she said. "Then what's in the bag?"

"None of your business!" Claire said a little to loudly, yanking the bag to no avail.

"Well we just see when I take this to the police." Samantha wrenched the backpack out of Claire's hands.

"Give it back!" Claaire yelled, getting louder.

"Come and get it, freak." And with that, Samantha turned around and ran down the street.

"No! Come back here!" The girl screamed, charging after the thief.

The two of them raced down the deserted streets, cutting through alleys and dashing around corners. Soon the two came to the edge of a forest but instead of turning or stopping Samantha plunged into the trees, ducking branches like she had the forest memorized. Claire followed, trying to ignore the little voice in her head.

What if this is a trap? What if she was running straight into the arms of mutant haters?

She forgot all of this as she ducked her first branch, focussing all of her energy into her burning legs and aching lungs. She had to get that backpack back. It was all she had. All she'd ever had. The only constant things in her life.

The trees seemed to never end. Claire was wondering how long her out of shape body could hold out in this chase when suddenly the trees parted into a clearing full of people.

_No, no no._ Claire thought, sure she was about to be experimented on. She hated using her powers, refused to use them but she was sure these people wouldn't let her go if she didn't get away right away.

Samantha stopped running when she got to the group of people and turned to Claire who had stopped on the edge of the clearing out of reach of anyone in the group.

All of them were silent, staring at the newcomer to their glade. Claire couldn't see many faces, just endless people dressed in a lot of dark colors. She gulped out of nervousness. Any sign of danger and she would run back to the town and find the police station.

Finally, someone spoke. "Who do we have here?" said a deep male voice.

"Another mutant. I think she is running from the school." said Samantha's voice.

Claire took a step back towards the trees, then another, and another. She reached her arm outstretched in search of the first tree.

"Where do you think you're going?" said the male voice. "Callisto?"

There was a rush of wind and suddenly Claire was face down on the ground, arm pinned behind her back.

"Yes Magneto?"said the person holding onto her.

"Wasshe correct in her assumptions?"

"She's looks like a class 3, maybe 4." said the woman.

_A class what?_ thought Claire.

"And?" said the man's voice, irritated.

"Nothing else, but she's definitely a mutant."

There was a moment of silence. "Now, now Callisto, let our guest stand ."

Claire was pulled to her feet but the grip on her arm did not loosen. She faced the group of people once again, terrified. She started tapping her toes gently on the ground, out of habit. She watched as Samantha stepped towards her with a grey haired man who she guessed had been commanding this Callisto person.

As Claire watched the dirt from Samantha's face melted away, as did her messy hair and weathered clothes. Her skin dissinigrated to blue and her hair turned red and slicked back. Claire stared in horror as she realised who these people were. That was Mystique. _The_ Mystique. Mystique and Magneto. They had disappeared off of the X men's radar but all of the pupils at the school knew about them and their powers. Suddenly being experimented on didn't seem like anything compared to what they might so to her.

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Next Chapter: **"Well then I guess I have just one question for you." the gun's hammer was drawn back with a click. "Will you join us?**


	3. Their way or the Highway

**Note: I do not own X men**

Magneto used his powers to unzip her backpack and began to take things out and toss them to Mystique. Claire flinched each time, waiting for the sound of shattering glass or scuffing metal.

Claire waited for the moment to come. She watched a notebook, a picture, a watch, clothes, a toothbrush, all be thrown to the blue woman. Part of Claire was convinced the thing would disappear, that Magneto hadn't seen it. But rumor had it Magneto could smell metal a mile away. He was sure to find it.

"Now what do we have here?" he said loudly. The tossing came to a stop. Claire gulped, shaking. She watched as Magneto used his powers to slowly lift a handgun from the depths of her bag. It hung there in the air for an eternity. Everyone seemed to tense at the sight of it, unsure of Magneto's plans for it.

"What is a girl your age carrying this around for?" Magneto asked. He was playing with her.

"Does it matter?" Claire asked.

"Oh it certainly does. For all we know you were coming after us." The gun turned towards her and floated nearer and nearer. It came to rest directly in front of her eyes. "And if you are against us then we have no choice but to destroy you."

Claire couldn't take her eyes off the weapon. "But it wasn't my choice to come here, I was tricked!" she said, desperation slipping through her voice.

"Well then I guess I have just one question for you." the gun's hammer was drawn back with a click. "Will you join us."

Claire was frozen in terror. She wondered how long she had to answer, she wondered if she would be able to answer. Her mouth was dry and her stomach suddenly stopped its somersaults and froze. Claire's toes stopped tapping and the lack of movement, even nervous, was awkward.

"Your answer please." demanded Magneto, becoming impatient.

Claire was shaking but managed to open her mouth. "Yes."

The hammer clicked out of place and the gun dropped to the ground. Claire flinched and her arm was freed from behind her back. She brought it in front of her and massaged it. She looked around warily at the group of people now dispersing, expecting one of them to attack at any moment.

Magneto came and held out his hand to her. "Welcome to the future of mutant kind."

Claire looked warily at his hand and decided against shaking it.

"So it is going to be like that is it?" he said in a dangerous whisper.

Claire didn't answer. "Very well." Magneto declared. Callisto will show you the way to your new inhabitance. If you are needed, you will be sent for. If you have any questions feel free to ask your guide." he informed her, indicating the dark skinned girl with a black tatoo marking her face.

"Come." said Callisto, starting toward the "inhabitance" "There are some extra tents over here."

As they made their way through the camp Claire saw all sorts of people of all sorts showing off their powers. She watched a man tending a fire, and then a man who looked just like him come out to warm himself. Then another identicalone walked over to join them.A differentman with spiked hair looked normal until he turned around to face the passing newcomer, revealing small sharp spikes projuring from his pores. A lot of people's powers were not physically visible but all of them looked sinister.

Claire got a lot of stares, people wondering what she looked like, what her power was, if she was really with them or if she would try to betray them. She wasn't even sure herself. She had heard some horrible rumours around school about Magneto's people were treated. Did she want to risk it? Maybe her tent would be near the edge of the forest and she could sneak away when everyone was asleep. She looked around. It was the middle of the night and it looked like everyone in camp was awake. So much for that idea.

"Here you are." said Callisto. "Your things will arrive later."

"Thank you." offered Claire.

Callisto squinted her eyes atClaire and then turned andwalkbriskly away without another word.

Claire climbed in to the small tent and found a small sleeping bag and pillow waiting for her.

She relaxed a little at the sight. The humble items were somehow comforting, though she didn't know why.

She suddenly realised how tired she was. It was late and the sun would probably be up in a couple hours. She unrolled the sleeping bag and started to settle in when she realised her sleeping clothes were in her backpack. It was a pet peeve of hers to wear different clothes when sleeping then during the day so she knew she wouldn't be sleeping until her stuff got there.

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Next Chapter: **She was free! Her pace quickened as she got closer to the trees. She was almost there, so close to freedom.**


	4. Ready to Run

**I do not own X men.**

Claire looked warily at his hand and decided against shaking it.

"So it is going to be like that is it?" he said in a dangerous whisper.

Claire didn't answer. "Very well." Magneto declared. "Callisto will show you the way to your new inhabitance. If you are needed, you will be sent for. If you have any questions feel free to ask your guide." he informed her, indicating the dark skinned girl with a black tatoo marking her face.

"Come." said Callisto, starting toward the "inhabitance" "There are some extra tents over here."

As they made their way through the camp Claire saw all sorts of people of all sorts showing off their powers. She watched a man tending a fire, and then a man who looked just like him come out to warm himself. Then another identicalone walked over to join them.A differentman with spiked hair looked normal until he turned around to face the passing newcomer, revealing small sharp spikes projuring from his pores. A lot of people's powers were not physically visible but all of them looked sinister.

Claire got a lot of stares, people wondering what she looked like, what her power was, if she was really with them or if she would try to betray them. She wasn't even sure herself. She had heard some horrible rumours around school about Magneto's people were treated. Did she want to risk it? Maybe her tent would be near the edge of the forest and she could sneak away when everyone was asleep. She looked around. It was the middle of the night and it looked like everyone in camp was awake. So much for that idea.

"Here you are." said Callisto. "Your things will arrive later."

"Thank you." offered Claire.

Callisto squinted her eyes atClaire and then turned andwalkbriskly away without another word.

Claire climbed in to the small tent and found a small sleeping bag and pillow waiting for her.

She relaxed a little at the sight. The humble items were somehow comforting.

She suddenly realised how tired she was. It was late and the sun would probably be up in a couple hours. She unrolled the sleeping bag and started to settle in when she realised her sleeping clothes were in her backpack. It was a pet peeve of hers to wear different clothes when sleeping then during the day so she knew she wouldn't be sleeping until her stuff got there.

She waited for an eternity for her bag and when it seemed like it would never get there she realised it was a lot quieter. She sat perfectly still listening for a minute before she could be sure. The voices around her tent had stopped but there were a few faint murmurs off in the distance towards where she had first entered the clearing. It only took her a moment of debating to decide her plan of action. If she ran into anyone she would pretend she was going for a walk.

She slowly unzipped the tent so that it didn't make a sound. When it big enough she poked her head out and looked around. Confirming that she was alone she silently unzipped the flap the rest of the way. She stepped out and shut the flap behind her incase someone walked by, careful to watch every direction for anyone approaching.

She stood slowly, trying to act normally as she passed a few tents that seperated her from the trees. She counted the tents in her head.

_7 more...5 more...1 more..._

She was free! Her pace quickened as she got closer to the trees. She was almost there, so close to freedom.

The first branch to touch her skin was like a breath of fresh air. She began running as soon as she cleared the trees, not caring where she ended up as long as she was free. Soon the murmur of camp died behind her and she slowed to catch her breath. She leaned against a tree until her heart calmed to a steady beat.

"Well," she thought. "That was easy."

"I'll give you ten seconds to convince me you couldn't find bathroom." said a voice behind her.


	5. Ten Seconds

**I do not own X men**

Claire pushed herself forward and began running again without thinking. She heard something hit the ground and begin following her. She dodged branches and roots, taking sharp turns to try to throw her pursurer off but she continued to hear the pounding of feet in her ears.

Claire took another quick turn and came face to face with a man twice her size. He went to grab her and revealed sharp horns growing out of his wrists. Claire ducked out of reach and ran through another group of trees quickly as her second pursurer began to throw his regrowable horns at her. The horns came at enormous speed as did the sound of his feet. Branches all around her head were wounded with these strange horns. Her breathing became uneasy and forced. She wasn't an athlete, she wasn't made for running.

She ran into a large branch and caught her sweatshirt on it. She tugged it loose and stumbled into a small meadow. But it was to late.

She felt the giant man tackle her. They hit the ground hard, pinning her to the grass. She pushed on his bare chest and threw him off her. He landed on his back and sat up, confused. He went to form a spike. A flower grew from his wrist. He stared at it dumbly, unsure it was real.

Claire turned to run but before she could take a step a wall of flames shot up in front of her. She fell backwards onto the ground in surprise and saw that she was completely surrounded in a firey cage.

"Ten seconds are up." said the male voice. She turned her head and saw through the bars a blonde boy in a leather jacket. His smile was evil and he seemed to be playing with a flame in the palm of his hand.

Claire toast anyone?

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**Yeah, it's short but please review anyway. The next chapter is longer!**


	6. One Year Later

**I do not own X men. This is set before X men 3.**

That was a year ago. She tried not to think about that night now, it was just to frightening. She came to realise everyone she had met that night had been on their guard, not sure if she was a friend or foe and that first impressions aren't always accurate.

Now the sixteen year old sat in a circle around one of the many camp fires with Callisto, Spyke the man who had chased her throwing his regrowable spikes, and Pyro, the blonde boy who had captured her. She watched as a flame lept from the fire they sat around and into Pyro's palm. Claire loved his power. In a way she was jealous. Her power seemed useless in every sense of the word. His on the other hand allowed him to touch the one untouchable element. She wondered what it felt like to have the flames dance in his bare skin. Did it tickle? Was it warm? Could he be burned if he didn't focus enough? She might never know.

She looked at the sun that was now directly over their heads and dismissed herself from the group. She made her way to the training grounds. Magneto made sure that his followers were in top physical condition. He had instructors to teach people defensive as well as offensive moves to use in any sort of fighting. He also helped people like Claire, who had no real control over their abilities so they could learn to become more effective. Claire, unfortunately, wasn't even sure what her power _was_.

She knew two things: one, when she touched people she could see memories. Sometimes they were happy, sometimes sad, sometimes she even saw fights they had been in. She couldn't really control what she saw. Two, she often found herself able to alter other's power or gain one herself. The probability of being able to increased to a certainty when she touched the opponent. For example: when she had touched Spyke, instead of being able to sprout horns he sprouted flowers. This power was very confusing to her. It seemed that this power was uncontrollable. When Magneto had her use her powers on him all she had done was throw a rock in his direction. Sometimes nothing happened at all. How useful was that? Not very, let me just be telling you.

"Hello my dear, how are you this fine afternoon?" Magneto greeted her with one of his custom smiles. After that first night when Magneto held the gun to her head she had never seen even a hint of malice in this congenial features. It must have just been an off night.

"I'm doing fine Magneto, how are you?"

"Wonderfully. I smell real progress coming our way with your powers."

Though Magneto was adamant that Claire's powers had immense potential but they hadn't quite made any progresstowards herbeing able to control them. The lessons had changed from being instructed by Multiple Man to Magneto. It was embarrassing not to have made any progress. What was wrong with her?

"Well, if nothing else we now know what I do." she half smiled.

"Don't say such a thing. We are so close to unlocking your power I can smell it. With every session we have together the more powerful your powers react."

This was true. She had been dueling Multiple Man and had won because his clones had suddenly turned on him in the middle of the battle. Not to meantion her power now reacted more without touch then before, though the attacks were usually smaller, admittedly.

She suddenly felt a surge of confidence flow through her like a fresh breath of air.

"Are you ready?" Magneto asked her, getting into a battle stance.

Claire relaxed her joints, ready to move. "Go."

There was a rush of leaves being thrown out of the way as something fell from a tree. Claire's eyes widened. Magneto wasn't her opponent. It was a distraction. She spun around to face the person she was really dueling. Pyro hurled a ball of fire aimed at her head before she could register who hewas. She threw herself to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. She felt the heat wash over her for a moment and then pass, leaving her hair singed badly.

She pushed herself off the ground, landing on her feet, ready to fight. Pyro sent another pillar of flames her way. She held up her hand, willing her power to do something useful.

An eardrum splitting scream sliced through the air, sending the two duelers to their knees in pain. Magneto ducked as a spinning, sparkling rocket shot over his head.

"Very good Miss Richards!" Magneto beamed.

"Fireworks?" Claire yelled over the howls, disappointed.

The sound came to a slow halt and the three of them straightened. "This is marvelous!" Magneto continued.You completely incapacitated your enemy with your power and didn't have to touch him." Pyro scowled.

"I also incapacitated _myself_. That doesn't do me much good if he were to recover first." she pointed out pessimistically.

"That can be learned, we'll just send you into battle with earplug next time."

"Earplugs for sound, sunglasses for blinding light, a special suit incase of heat, where will it end? Maybe I'll retire early so I won't be such a threat to myself." With that she turned on her heels and left to stomp back to her tent. She had a headache she hoped to sleep off.

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**Please review! I hoped you enjoyed the longer chapter.**


	7. Admitting The Past

_She was running down a dark tunnel, blood flowing out of her knuckles. She suddenly came face to face with an enormous wall. She frantically brushed her palms across the surface creating a scraping noise from the painful claws sticking out of her hands._

She was strapped to a chair, unable to move as the man in the uniform and swastika armband came closer with the razor. She felt it touch her skin and begin embedding the numbers into her forearm. They were branding all of them like a cattle. Now they brought the ink and let it seep into the wound.

She felt the boy's lips go cold and heard him gasp for air. Her eyes flew open and saw the look of fear in his eyes. She pushed him away and screamed for her mother.

Pyro shook the mumbling girl roughly. "Claire! Wake up Claire!" he whispered loudly in her ear.

"No! I didn't mean it." she said desperately, fighting his grip.

"Claire it's me, Pyro!"

"No!"

"Claire it's," he paused for a brief moment. " it's John, Claire."

She finally managed to burst through the barrier between sleep and wakefulness. She gasped for air like she had been holding it for too long, eyes huge with fear as she tried to recognize the face above her.

"John." she whispered. "John." It was all she could get out. Her thoughts came to fast. Thoughts that weren't her own flew at her from the dark reaches of her mind.

"It's ok Claire, it's ok it was just a dream."

Her lip trembled. "It was horrible. It was them. They're still in my head, they won't leave and- and I-" she broke off and gulped back her tears. With the help of John she sat up. She cradled her head in her hands as she tried to explain it to him, tried to make him understand.

"It sounded pretty bad." he told her.

"It's worse than bad. I'm having memories that aren't mine. They float around in my head all day but it's not until I go to sleep that they come alive."

There was a long pause. Pyro wondered if he should say anything. Should he hug her? Should he say he understood? He didn't, and it wouldn't help her.

"The worst part," her voice dropped to a mere breath. "is that I can't tell which one's are really mine. All of them seem so real. The pain, the fear, even the happiness." she took a shaky breath, trying to forget the images. She brushed her lips with her finger tips. She could still feel the cold skin of that boy. What had happened to him?

"What are you doing here?"

"I was in the neighborhood."

"You wanna go for a walk or something?" Pyro offered. "Maybe it'll clear your head." Claire nodded. She slipped on a jacket and shoes and left with him.

The campsite was almost a small town in itself. There had to be several hundred mutants here. All of them had similar stories: rejected by family and people they thought were friends, gone underground or left town in an attempt to start over. Then they found Magneto and agreed with his vision.

There was a lot of anger in these people. The few that Claire had accidentally touched had memories of fighting for their life, loss, suffering. Some were younger than her, others were so weathered it was hard to tell exactly how old they were.

As Claire walked pass silent tents she wondered if the memories that had caused her dreams belonged to any of these people. Normally she didn't like to wonder, she just forgot about the images and tried to move on. Other times though she found herself wondering. What would I see if I touched him? What about her?

She glanced at John. What would happen if she touched him? Secretly she _did_ have a crush on him but would never admit it. He seemed like an okay guy, kind of distant, he had his moodiness but...

She shook herself inwardly. She may have been attracted to him, but only a little. Her feelings were as big as an ant.

Or an atom.

She didn't like him enough to slip off her glove and reach for his hand. She didn't like him enough to trust him. She wouldn't make the same mistakes she had before.

Men are scum. She told herself._ He_ seems _nice, but really he's waiting. Waiting for you to open up. To let your guard down. Waiting..._

She told herself. seems 

"Claire?" John pulled her back to reality.

"Sorry, I'm zoning out." she apologized.

"Oh, ok." he shrugged it off.

They were on a large rock that let you look over some of the forest. The moon hadn't appeared yet so there wasn't much to see at the moment. The only source of light was from the flame bounding across John's hands. Claire sat mesmerize for a moment and let her thoughts wander.

I love the fire reflecting from his eyes. Look at how he looks back at it, I wish he would look at me like that.

She was mad at herself now. She knew he didn't like her, why did she constantly have to give her hopes up like that? He wasn't going to be any different than any other guy she had ever met.

"Hey Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

There was a pause but only for a split second. "Shoot."

"When did you first discover you were a mutant?"

This pause was longer. Did she want to tell him? She hadn't told anyone, well, besides Professor Xavier but...but that had been different. This was the guy she was crushing on. She couldn't even tell her best friend about it. What if this messed up any chances she had with him? Shouldn't she be able to tell him anything? She had wanted to forget all that stuff but part of her was burning to tell...

"I was thirteen." so she just started talking. What was there to lose. His respect. He might forever see her as some pathetic thing and she did _not_ need his sympathy. "for some reason I felt like something wasn't right. Ever since I was a little girl strange things had happened. But now they were happening more often."

She paused for a second to try to form her thoughts into words but not too long for fear that her mouth would suddenly clamp shut and stay that way forever.

"I blamed it on puberty, 'everyone is going through this', I kept telling myself that but I knew it wasn't true. I had never heard of puberty causing visions... I don't know why it took me so long, all of the anti mutant things were the top stories in the news. Maybe I didn't want to admit it to myself."

"I wanted to be accepted. You know I'm an orphan. Rumors would go around about why I hadn't been adopted by any family yet. They said it wasn't safe for any of my foster families to adopt me, that I was crazy and had killed an entire family in one of my spouts of insanity. So I did what every other girl my age was doing. I got a boyfriend."

"That was supposed to solve my problem, but it only caused more. At first it was fine. And then he held my hand for the first time and I suddenly was having nightmares about him in brutal fights with his siblings, yelling at his parents, pulling dirty pranks on kids. I thought it was just my subconscious freaking out over my first official relationship, you know?"

Could I be wrong about anything else?

Well I kept going out with him and eventually he figured out I was a mutant. The sad part was it was before I had even realized it. He would accuse me of lying to him about it and after a while he got violent about it."

John held his breath for a moment in surprise but Claire kept going. No use in stopping before all of the story was out in the open.

"It went on for a long time. Sometimes I would hit him back. Sometimes it wasn't that bad. I think my friends suspected the bruises were coming from my foster parents. I guess they just couldn't believe that someone they knew would do something like that."

"Then one night he came to my house and he was acting strangely. We were sitting outside and he pulled out a gun. He held it to my head and yelled and screamed about mutants and abominations."

"I thought I was going to die. And as I sat there crying, something inside of me snapped. He pulled the trigger but somehow...it missed."

"My foster parents heard the gunshot and came outside. I told them what had happened. That I was defending myself but I was so scared at what I had done. He was hurt so bad. They believed me and took him to a hospital and I left. I couldn't be there when he told everyone a mutant had done that to him."

"And then you went to Xavier's school." John finished the story for her.

"Yeah. I heard about it and made my way to it. But that wasn't what I thought it was either."

"Yeah, Xavier's delusional if he thinks the homo sapiens will ever accept us."

Claire became quiet. He sounded like Magneto, not like the boy she had been confessing one of her darkest secrets to.

"I think I'll be able to get back to sleep now, thanks." she said and left.

"Your welcome." Pyro called after her, wondering what he said to make her leave so suddenly.

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Please Review! Thank you for all of your support and diligence in reading my story, I hope you enjoy it!


	8. The Secret Weapon

**Sorry for the huge delay! I hope you enjoy it!**

**I do not own X men.**

The next morning when Claire woke up and remembered the night before she went into freak out mode.

"What was I thinking! Stupid! Stupid, stupid!" she whispered to herself all through the day.

No wonder you haven't seen Pyro all day, you scared him off! Now he thinks your damaged! He won't come within a mile of you!

ARG!

After lunch she made her way to her usual hangout: The large campfire exactly in the middle of the sea of tents.

Well, it was _usually_ the largest fire. When Pyro was there. Surprise, surprise, he was no where to be seen when Claire walked up.

"Hey Claire baby!" Claire flinched at Spyke's voice. "Come here 'n give me a kiss."

Claire held back a wretch. "Dream on Spyke." he laughed it off. What a creepy guy. She made a mental note to shiver later.

"You're later than usual." Callisto said, trying to change the subject. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine, just a bit tired I guess." she lied.

Callisto studied her but she refused to make eye contact. Instead she pretended she didn't feel her gaze and joined Multiple Man to try and catch damp sticks on fire.

"Hey guys." the voice nearly made Claire fall off her seat in surprise.

"Hey Pyro, where ya been buddy?" Spkye exclaimed. Claire remained focused on the fire.

"Helping Magneto, he's going over strategies and stuff." Claire felt Pyro glance at her but chose to ignore it.

"You seen this 'secret weapon' everybody's been talking about." Spyke continued, oblivious to the tension that had settled on the group.

"Naw, he's trying to keep it under wraps."

"Well pull up a seat bro', stay awhile!" Spyke motioned towards the stump next to him.

"No I gotta split, I'm just supposed to get Claire, Magneto wants you."

"Oh, ok." she stood up stiffly and followed him off towards Magneto's tent. She realized too late that she was still carrying the smouldering stick and stuffed it in the ground to try and extinguish it. The ground turned out to be hard packed and she kicked dirt onto the tip. In her nervousness she broke the stick and decided to give up. Pyro was watching her from several feet away with a cocked eyebrow.

Mumbling something about forest fires she began following John again, cursing herself for not keeping her cool.

Great, as if this couldn't be anymore awkward! she screamed at herself.

"So, Magneto planning on an attack or something?" Claire asked, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, he says he's tired of these woods, I guess we all kind of are."

"Yeah."

More awkward silence.

"What does Magneto want me for?" Claire asked as they stepped into the clearing used for training.

"He doesn't."

Claire looked around but no one was there. "Huh?"

John turned to her with that look, that look that every teacher at Mutant High gave her.

Oh crap. She thought. Here it comes. The pity speech. She dreaded it, the whole "I'm here if you need anything, you can come to me" thing. It was always the same. What was worse was everything afterwards. Like everyone knew she had been through crap and wanted to make sure she didn't go through anymore. She did _not_ need this.

"Listen John." she cut him off before he could even start. She took the opportunity to study his face, his pity filled eyes included. They looked awkward, like he'd never used this look on anyone before.

"I don't know what happened last night...but I really don't remember it too clearly."

"Oh." he said, caught off guard.

"See, I have a tendency to make up stories when I wake up in the middle of the night." she lied. "So if I said anything funny, just disregard it as my mind drooling all over itself in an attempt to get back to sleep."

She had a feeling he saw straight through her lie, but he played along, trying not to look like a fool.

"Yeah." he seemed as eager to change the subject as she was. "Magneto is planning an attack soon and he wants his right-hand man to go with him." he smiled as if this were the best thing in the world that could happen to him.

The bottom of Claire's stomach fell to the forest floor. "Fighting?" was all she could say.

"Yeah, isn't it awesome! We're finally getting started, finally we will wipe out all of these homo sapien idiots!" he was getting worked up now, pacing around like a restless tiger in a cage. Claire watched him with a look of fear thinly veiled by her attempt at looking happy for him.

"Cool." she smiled.

He didn't pick up on the lack of enthusiasm in her voice. She knew that this had been coming, but she still wasn't used to it. In the time she had lived with Magneto's men she had seen exactly what joining his cause meant. She had seen mutants disappear and the mass funerals where Magneto gave speeches about how they furthered the noble cause. No matter how much she had allowed Magneto to grow on her she could never allow his vision to become her own. Too many were hurt, to many lost their lives and now the boy she had feelings for was standing in front of her, ranting about how happy he was to do the same.

When he had run himself out he announced that Magneto was calling an assembly to announce his plan and show his secret weapon for the first time. Rumors had flown around the camp about what it could possibly be. A bomb had been the general consensus.

She approached the large crowd several steps behind John, who was trying his hardest not to run. He glanced back for a brief moment to make sure she had followed him and then disappeared towards the hill where Magneto stood. There was a woman standing next to him with brilliant red hair. Claire squinted up, confused. She had only seen red hair like that on one other person, but she was dead.

Magneto began speaking and introduced everyone to the woman. He said she was their secret weapon...Claire gasped when he announced this new addition to their team.

Jean Grey.


	9. Night Before Departure

**Another chapter! Please review!**

**I do not own X men.

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All Claire could do was stare at her old Professor. The woman whose death had rocked the entire school and caused Cyclops to plunge himself into a depression. The woman who sacrificed her life to save the X men team was now standing before her on the wrong side. This couldn't be happening. How could she be alive? How could she align herself with Magneto?

Claire was so shocked that she didn't hear most of what Magneto was saying. It was probably the usual stuff anyway. Everyone in the audience was still and mesmerized by their leader's words except for a hooded figure making their way toward the back of the crowd where Claire was standing.

She managed to tear her eyes away from her ex-professor and watched as the figure elbowed their way through the crowd. Claire moved out of their way to avoid being knocked over, catching the person's attention. His head moved in her direction and they stared at each other for a second, as if in recognition. Then with just as much haste as before, the figure continued on its journey.

For a moment she forgot the miracle of Jean Grey being alive and instead focused on the figure disappearing into the forest. Somehow it seemed familiar. She had the strange urge to follow them, something that was totally against her nature.

She wasn't one of those Go-investigate-the-strange-noise type of girls. She was more of a avoid-danger-at-all-costs sort of person which made her wonder why she remained with such a bloodthirsty group of people.

Maybe that was why after only a step she looked back up at John. She saw that for once his eyes weren't glued to Magneto but instead gazed at her. She couldn't see the expression on his face but she imagined that it was worried and he was watching her.

She turned back, feeling safe under his gaze, and followed the mysterious figure quickly, they had already disappeared into the trees.

She wandered around for a few minutes, but found nothing. She went back to camp, unsatisfied. She went to her tent hoping to sleep through the rest of this weird day, who cares if it wasn't even time for dinner yet? She was afraid if she stayed awake she would witness something even more outrageous, like Logan walking into camp to attend one of Magneto's meetings.

Unfortunately Claire woke up only a few hours later. Dinner was finished and now everyone was getting drunk in celebration of the victory that, as far as everyone of them was concerned, was already theirs.

When she attempted to go back to sleep, Spkye unzipped the flap of her tent and filled it with his rancid breath. It was obvious he had been drinking for quite awhile.

"Hey babe, wazz up?" he hiccoughed.

"Go away Spyke."

"Cum on baby! 've gut yoo a dr'nk r'ght here." He knelt down to hand in the beer but sloshed it down his front in the process.

"No Spyke. You know I don't drink."

Spyke babbled something incoherent and began crawling into Claire's tent.

"Spyke!" she yelled, jumping out of her sleeping bag. "No! Back! Down! Out!" He heeded no command.

He got his body half way into the tent and then passed out, snoring in his drunken sleep. Claire tried kicking him lightly to wake him but nothing worked. She managed to climb out of her tent without touching the putrid figure and plunged herself into the night's revelries.

Claire shivered in the cool air but most of the people around her tent had shed jackets and shoes, confirming that they were drunk.

Claire sighed. She hated when they got drunk. She refused to drink for fear of doing something stupid with her power. She only wished that her fellows would take the same consideration.

As if taking a cue, a brawl broke out several feet from her tent. The guys began using everything they had on each other: one was static shocking his opponent while the other was growing and shrinking in size to evade the punches and kicks being thrown at him. The two weren't doing any harm until the static shocks began to miss and hit people in the surrounding area. With a mob of irritated mutants beginning to form, Claire started to get anxious and tried to find a clear path out. People had broken out into full out brawls when Pyro showed up.

Pyro was established as second only to Magneto. No one questioned his word for fear of getting him mad. His temper was infamous in the camp and just the sight of him set most of the brawlers in their place. Pyro didn't say anything, just sent a few people some burns to get their attention and shake them out of their anger.

She knew when he was done he would leave, so she took this opportunity to study him. She watched him appraise the area and the mutants slinking off into the shadows. She admired his indifferent face. He was a good twenty feet away and she couldn't take her eyes off of him. From his strong gaze watching the scene warily to his feet planted firmly on the ground, he was full of strength that was almost contagious.

She wished she could stand next to him and get a better look. She wished that he would turn those strong eyes on her for once.

Claire thought she was dreaming as his eyes turned to her. For a moment she thought he must have read her thoughts, and as he strolled towards her she knew he must be coming to laugh at how ridiculous they were. She didn't dare blink as he walked her way, if she did she knew he would be gone. She wanted to live in this fantasy for as long as possible.

Then Psylocke walked by smoking a cigarette.

The smoke filled Claire's eyes, making them water and causing her to cough. While Claire tried to regain her cool Pyro reached her. She coughed a small 'Hi' before he extinguished the cigarette flame. Psylocke went to take a drag and was confused when she realized the cigarette was out. However, the confusion quickly left and giving the back of Pyro's head a withering glare, she marched off.

"Hi." replied John with a smile.

Claire cleared her throat of the last bit of smoke and smiled. "Thanks." she said gratefully.

"No problem."

There was a crowd once again assembling in the area around them. The noise grew quickly, making it hard to hear.

"Do they have to get drunk _every time_ something happens?" asked Claire, rolling her eyes at the noise.

Pyro said something but all she saw was his lips move and him point towards the slumbering Spyke.

Claire raised her voice to a yell. "What?!"

Pyro leaned closer to her, making Claire's breath catch in her throat. He whispered in her ear. "I kind of like Spyke this way."

He was so close she could smell the ever present fire that lingered on his clothes and hair. She laughed with him, and admitted that she agreed.

"I wish everyone else would follow his lead." she told him. The cold she had felt before was completely forgotten. A warm feeling had spread throughout her when she felt his breath on her ear and his jacket brush her arm as he moved closer to her.

"Do you not have a place to sleep?" he asked her. She suddenly realized that Spyke had stolen her bed.

"Maybe a place to live. I don't think that tent will ever be the same."

Pyro laughed and motioned for her to follow him.

He led her to his tent and unzipped the flap for her. "Home sweet home." he announced to her.

"No offense John but I'm not going to take your bed. Just get Spyke out of mine and I'm sure I can get over the smell."

"You might as well take mine, Spyke's smell isn't one you just get over." he smiled.

She tried to think of another excuse. "But where are you going to sleep?" good one.

Pyro paused, giving her a strange look. "Didn't you hear Magneto this afternoon? We're leaving at dawn."

The warmth suddenly left Claire and it was much colder than when she first came out of her tent.

"He said it at the meeting when he announced our attack." he said, trying to jog her memory.

"Oh, I guess I was caught up in other things." she said, wondering what else she missed.

"Other things? What are you talking about?" he said it with the usual vigor that all of Magneto's followers did. How could she have possibly been distracted from his awe inspiring speech?! He was saying.

"Oh, well the whole Professor Grey being alive thing..." she said, remembering the confusing day she had tried to forget.

"She's the Phoenix now. Magneto says she is way more powerful than Jean or anything anyone has ever seen. With her on our side this war will be over before we know it."

War. Claire hated the war. Not that she dare say that in front of anyone here. She guessed that this is what women felt like in World War Two when they had to see their boyfriends and husbands home. Except John wasn't her boyfriend. Or husband. Not even close.

She spent so much time trying to think of something to say that John began to sense something was wrong.

"What is it?"

She paused, trying to word things carefully. "I'm just worried."

"What about?"

About you! she thought. _What if you don't come back?! Ever think of that?!_

she thought. 

"Nothing."

What if this trust that you have for Magneto backfires!? He's been known to use people, you know how quickly he abandoned Mystique!

Now he was curious. "No really, what is it?"

How do I know I'll see you again? How do I know he isn't going to leave you somewhere as soon as things start to go bad for him?! Why does he have to have this stupid war!? Why can't he just retire like regular old men...

"I just don't want my friends to get hurt." she admitted.

Pyro laughed, trying to brush away her fears. "You don't have to worry, those homo sapiens won't be able to touch us."

"What about the X men?" The question had slipped out. Any mention of the X men was forbidden unless followed by a graphic description of what you would do if you got your hands on them.

"I hope they show up, I've got some business to settle with old 'ice man'" he said his ex best friend's nickname like a filthy word.

Claire faked a yawn to try and end the conversation. "I should probably get some sleep." she declared, bending down and climbing in her new tent. Pyro was a little surprised at the halt in the conversation and wondered once again if he had said something to chase her off.

"John?" he heard her call from inside the tent. He knelt down and peered inside.

As soon as he was at her level Claire jumped at him and gave him a hug.He was surprised at first but quickly recovered and hugged her back, wondering if she was more worried than he had thought. They held the hug for a long time.

"Be safe." she whispered.

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**Please review! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions?**


	10. The News

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When Claire woke up they had already left and for the next week it was all she could do to not be sick with worry. Spyke hadn't left, to her dismay, but Callisto and the few other people she talked to had. He hadn't figured out where she slept yet, which showed just how intelligent he was. Everyone in the camp had taken notice that she was now sleeping in Pyro's tent. She spent most of her time ignoring the rumors and avoiding Spyke, which kept her mind off of John for the most part.

Then one day a large group of them wandered into camp. They looked tired and most of them dragged their feet to their tents and collapsed for long naps. Spyke had found Claire running around quizzing people for information on John.

"Have you seen Joh-Pyro?" she asked one guy, almost forgetting to use John's Mutant name. She knew these people got mad when someone used their homo sapien name.

The man grunted a no and continued on.

"Why're you so int'rested in Flameboy?" Spyke asked, irritated that she was ignoring him.

"Where's Pyro?" she asked a girl her age who was climbing into her bed.

"I don't know." she answered, falling asleep almost immediately.

"Come on babe, let me help or somethin'" he offered, finally catching her attention.

"Okay." she said, surprised at his offer.

"I'll go ask Toad, he'll probably know." He said, indicating the green hunched man. "Now normally, babe, I'd be offended that you're so int'rested in Fireman. But I know you'd be a mess if it was me." he laughed and made his way towards Toad, Claire's eyes following him closely.

She was too far away to hear anything they were saying. Spyke pointed towards her and Toad shook his head and said something, then jumped away towards his tent. Spyke came back looking sobered. Gone was the cocky jilt in his walk, the crooked smile he thought was attractive and the haughty glint in his eye. He walked over to Claire, but wouldn't meet her gaze.

Claire's heart was pounding. "Spyke?" she said, wondering if she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Claire...I'm sorry." he finally met her eyes. "Pyro's gone."

Panic began to slip into her voice. "What are you talking about? Where did he go?"

"He's dead Claire."

With a wretch Claire emptied the contents of her stomach onto Spyke's shoes. He jumped back and tried shaking the vomit from his boots. When he regained his composure he tried to help Claire sit down on a nearby rock. She didn't hear his explanation, she didn't want to. She just remembered the hug, the stupid hug she had given him a week before.

Why not? She had thought. What if I never get the chance to do this again? Why hadn't she stopped him from going? Why hadn't she told him how she felt? Why hadn't she done something, anything, more than give him a hug.

When her head stopped spinning she tried drinking the water Spyke had given her. He was sitting uncomfortably close to her and slowly placed his hand on her knee as if trying to comfort her. She realized that without John this is how it would be. John could get Spyke to go away, he could get people to leave her alone. Without him in the camp she would be alone. Sure there was Callisto, but how long until she was killed too?

Claire brushed Spyke's huge hand from her jeans and slowly stood. She walked towards her tent with as much determination as she could muster. Spyke was following close at her heels as she grabbed the few meager belongings she had and marched towards the edge of camp.

"Hey babe, where're you going?" he called.

Claire didn't respond, her mind was void of thought, of any emotions. The only idea she could grasp was getting away from this place and these people.

"Come on!" he grabbed her arm and swung her around. He held both of her arms and looked into her face, shaking her. "Where do ya think you're goin'? Have you lost you're mind?"

The color of Claire's eyes darkened but before Spyke could do anything she had head butted him, knocking him out cold. She stared down at him, knowing he probably had a concussion. She then turned in the direction of Xavier's mansion and disappeared into the forest.

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	11. Going Back

**I do not own X men.**

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Claire was wandering slowly down the driveway of Xavier's School for Higher Learning when everything finally hit her. She stopped and stood staring at the mansion and all of the beautiful plants surrounding it. She thought about when she had stayed there and John staying there. She thought about how close they must have come to meeting so many times. She thought about him wandering the halls with his old friends and she thought about him lying somewhere, cold and alone. 

Her eyes filled with tears and she let out a sob that shook her entire body. She stumbled to the side of the road and into the mansion's maze. She grasped for something to steady her but instead plopped to the ground in a heap, crying uncontrollably.

She remembered the first time that she had seen him, wandering down the halls at Xavier's school. He was with Iceman and Rouge, laughing. The picture of his head thrown back, laughing with them was forever ingrained in her mind. He sat a few seats to her right in her History class, but she had never tried to talk to him.

She knew that she would regret that for the rest of her life.

Her sobs were so loud she didn't notice the blond boy land a few feet from her and fold his large white wings behind him. She was cradling her head in her hands and jumped when he spoke to her in an urgent voice.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?!"

She looked up into his clear blue eyes with her red puffy ones. "Who...are you?" she hiccoughed.

"My name's Warren. Are you okay?" he asked again, looking her over for any injury.

"I'm Claire." she whispered, tears still streaming down her face.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm a mutant, I've come to the mutant school." she was trying to force herself into this conversation, trying not to think about John or anything that had to do with him. She would avoid the topic of her tears for as long as she could.

"You are? Really?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah." she sniffed.

"Me too. I guess you could call me Angel then."

"Angel?"

"Yes."

"You mind if I just call you Warren?"

"No problem." he smiled. It was a nice smile. Very kind.

"So what are you doing out here?" he asked.

Claire turned away from him, suddenly confronted with the thought of John. John's smile. John's laugh. John's eyes as he made flames play in his palm.

"I am alone." she said simply, turning back to Warren.

He nodded, understanding. "Me too." he said quietly.

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Warren walked into the Professor's study where some of the X men sat. Claire hung back in the doorway, not in the mood to have them recognize her just yet. 

"Excuse me, I know this is a bad time but...I heard this was a safe place for mutants." Warren looked anxiously at the faces in the room: Ororo, Logan, Hank, Kitty and Bobby.

Hank spoke up first. "It used to be, son." his voice was solemn.

There was a long pause where everyone exchanged sad looks with the carpet.

_What are they talking about? _Claire wondered._ Is the school not safe now? Is it closing? Where is the Professor?_

Ororo's sad expression changed to one of determination. "It still is." she said, causing Warren to smile a little. "Let's get you two rooms."

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**A new hope? Just kidding, this is X men not Star Wars. REVIEW!**


	12. Flying

**I do not own X men. Thank you so much for the reviews!**

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John was dead. The Professor was dead. Scott was dead. Everyone around her seemed to be getting killed in this stupid war. Claire thought that coming to the mansion would free her from her sadness but it just brought more to her.

Her room was on the second story overlooking the maze, but it also overlooked the grave of the Professor. She avoided looking out it. Even though she hadn't known the Professor very well, she still shared in the heavy sadness that hung everywhere.

It took her several days but she finally went out to see it. She went at night, somehow the daylight seemed harsh and exposing these days. She stood in the moonlight in front of the monument erected in his honor. An eternal flame burned on it, casting shadows across the grass.

The Phoenix, Jean Grey, had completely disintegrated his body, Ororo said, so there were no remains.

Claire hadn't known Professor Grey personally, but she had been known for her kindness and intellect. The guys said she was a kind of nerdy supermodel and the girls looked up to her as everything they wanted to be.

Now just the mention of her sent chills up people's spines.

"Hey there." Claire turned towards the voice of Warren. He walked over and stood next to her, looking down at the memorial.

"Hi." she replied solemnly.

"It's nice here. I wish I could have met the man who started all of this." he said regretfully.

"He was okay." she shrugged.

Warren was confused. "You seem offly upset over a guy who was 'okay'"

"We didn't really see eye to eye I guess." she knew everything she said was encoded but she really wasn't in the mood for a confessional.

For a while neither of them said anything. Then Warren turned to her with an idea.

"Would you like to go for a fly?" he asked.

"No thanks." Claire wasn't to fond of the idea of being hundreds of feet in the air with nothing but someone's grip keeping her from falling.

"Oh come on. I only recently started to fly around. My dad has pretty much kept me under lock and key since he found out I was a mutant."

Claire looked at him in a different light. She had known his father was the man who had introduced this cure. Somehow she thought him being rich would mean he was more privileged and not have to go through the same abuse as everyone else.

"It's amazing up there." he coaxed.

She paused, but just for a moment. "Might as well." she shrugged. Suddenly she didn't care. So what if he dropped her? So what if they got hit by an airplane?

Warren shed his jacket and shirt and threw them to the side. Claire blushed slightly, it hadn't occurred to her that he wouldn't be wearing a shirt.

He stretched his wings to their full expanse and Claire gasped. Warren gave her a questioning look. Claire came closer, mesmerized by the moon reflecting off the pure white feathers.

"Can I touch them?" she asked.

"Sure." he said nervously. No one had ever touched his wings other than in experiments by his father's lab goons.

Claire circled around behind him, eyes wide in wonder. The moon made the wings look like two ghosts without conjuring the same fear as ghosts do. She let her hand gently brush over the silky feathers a few times. Then she noticed the wings' bones and touched their smooth surface as well. She was running her fingers along the bone when Warren shivered.

"That tickles!" he said, laughing a little.

His words brought her back to reality. This wasn't a pet or a piece of soft fabric, this was a person she was stroking and she suddenly was creeped out by her boldness. She let her hand drop and went around to the front of Warren.

"What do I do?" she asked him.

"Well, I've never taken someone along with me so..." he looked uncertain.

They tried a few different ways and decided that him holding her bridal style was the easiest and most comfortable. When she had wrapped her arms around his neck he swept her feet out from under her and counted down.

"3...2...1!" He unfurled his wings and flapped, sending them soaring into the night sky.

The air in Claire's lungs suddenly disappeared like it did when she rode rollercoasters. Her eyes forced themselves shut to protect themselves from the air they were moving quickly through. Then all of a sudden they stopped.

"Open your eyes." Warren said gently.

Her eyes flew open, but she hadn't expected to be up so high and they quickly closed again.

"Ahh!" she yelled in surprise. Her arms that had been draped around Warren's neck tightened so much that only the jaws of life could have pried them off. Her body began curling into a little ball to try and protect herself and Warren started to lose the steadiness he had had.

"Hey! Claire! Calm down! I've got you, don't worry!" trying to regain his hold on her.

Claire didn't relax but Warren regained his steadiness.

"Do you want me to go lower?" he offered. All she could do was nod.

He descended much slower out of consideration for her.

"I didn't realize you were afraid of heights." he apologized.

"I-I'm not." came her muffled stutter. She had buried her face between her arm and his chest in an attempt to avoid peeking.

He laughed. "You can open your eyes now." he assured her. She slowly peeked out and saw that they were indeed lower. They were right over a lake surface, their reflections looking up at them. Reflection Warren was smiling. Claire gazed at them and gave a small smile, the first one in days

"Why here?" was all she could get out.

"I don't know. I just thought you might like it." he shrugged.

"I do." she smiled a sincere smile not completely void of nervousness.

"Do you have any requests?" he asked.

"Um..." she tried to think of somewhere.

Before she could answer he had already started off. She tried to keep her eyes open the entire time, but she would flinch whenever he seemed inches from catching his wing on a tree. He stayed low to the ground this time and after a few minutes they had finally reached their destination.

"How did you know?" she laughed as he set her down in the center of the maze at the Xavier mansion.

"Lucky guess." he smiled. She spent a few seconds regaining her footing, his hands not leaving her waist. She broke away from him, smiling politely. He got the hint and led her to one of the paths leading into the rest of the maze.

As Warren turned the corner Claire heard a clicking noise behind her. She turned towards the benches and fountain that decorated the center of the maze and froze.

In a path entrance exactly opposite the one she stood in was John, who extinguished the flame from his hand ignitors, causing it to click. She stared at him for several moments, frozen in a moment in time.

"Claire?" called Warren.

Claire turned to look at him come back around a corner of the path. "Are you okay?" he asked, puzzled.

Claire turned back to look at John but he was gone.

"Yeah, I'm coming." she said, taking a hesitant step to follow him.

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**Surprised? Let me know and review please!**


	13. Hallucinating?

**I do not own X men.**

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Warren walked Claire to her room and said a brief goodnight, noticing she had become quieter since they got into the maze. 

Claire's thoughts would have been racing if they weren't so tangled up in each other. Her mind seemed stuck on the image of John in the maze. Was she going insane? Had her grief made her lose it?

She had been trying to befriend Warren but did it with an ounce of guilt. She felt that deep down she was only trying to use him to bandage up her heart. Obviously her subconscious wanted her to be as miserable as possible and remind her that John was gone.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she had gotten when their eyes met.

She kept thinking of the small clicking noise that his ignitors had made. It was so real. He was so real. Could hallucinations make noise?

Warren wished her a goodnight and she shut the door gently but didn't move, letting her emotions sweep over her. The sight of Hallucination John filled her with ecstacy which slowly drained from her, leaving the sadness that she had felt before. She felt a tear streaking down her face and promised herself it would be the only one. She sniffed back the other tears and went to go take a shower.

Except someone was sitting on her bed.

Someone with brown hair that he had recently bleached.

Someone who made her stomach do a somersault.

Someone who was watching her closely, making and extinguishing a flame with his ignitors.

Claire screamed in a mixture of surprise and fear. John jumped to his feet and ran over to her and took her by the shoulders.

"What are you doing!? Calm down! It's me!" he said in a harsh whisper.

Claire starred at him, awestruck. He was touching her. She could feel his hands pressing the arms of her sweatshirt. She was looking into his panicking eyes. It wasn't a ghost or a hallucination (or if it was it was a very convincing one.)

"John?" she breathed, since for the second time that night the air in her lungs had disappeared.

"Claire." he gave a relieved smile and let go of her arms. "Are you crazy? Yelling like that? What if someone hears?"

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. Claire jumped.

"Claire?" it was Bobby's voice.

Claire could see John tense at the familiar voice. They used to be best friends, what happened?

"Claire, are you okay? I heard you scream."

"Oh, I'm okay!" she called. "I thought I saw a spider." she lied, playing the part of a helpless girl. After a year of living in a forest, spiders were the least of her fears.

"You want me to get it?" he offered, beginning to turn the handle.

Claire threw herself at the door. "No! I'm changing Bobby."

"Oh." she could almost see him blushing through the door. "Okay then."

John and Claire waited for a minute in silence to make sure Bobby had left before Claire locked her door and turned back to her surprise guest.

"Him and me have been overdo for a little chat, you should have-oof." Claire tackled him in a hug. She hugged him hard and spoke quickly.

"John I can't believe it's you! How is this possible?! Spyke asked Toad and hesaidyouweredeadandIdidntknowwhat-" her last words came out as one.

"Woah, woah, what?" he interrupted, puzzled. He gently pushed her away from him and searched her face. "What did Spyke tell you?"

"I was asking about you. Spyke asked Toad and said he said you were dead." Just the memory caused a pang of sadness.

"And you believed him?" he cocked an eyebrow. "You do realize he is constantly trying to get into your pants, right? He would have said anything to try and look like the nice guy. Let me guess," John's expression turned to one of mock sentimentality. "Was he a real sweetheart in your time of need?"

Claire's mouth dropped open to deny it. She thought of Spyke helping her to sit down and the hand on the knee, the unpleasant closeness.

"Am I an idiot?" she asked, incredually.

John laughed. "No, he's stupid but he knows how to manipulate people when he wants to."

Claire nodded at this. He had been so convincing. "Just tell me one thing." he said, once again getting that mocking sentimental look. "Were you sad when he told you?"

Claire thought about it. She thought about vomiting, about running back to the mansion and breaking down in tears as soon as she got here. She thought about the empty feeling that she had been carrying around and the meals she had not eaten. She promised herself that she would never let John know.

"Actually, I was kind of relieved." she smiled.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I thought 'Hey, maybe now someone else can have a shot at being Magneto's pet'" she teased.

John seemed a little hurt. "Oh yeah, then why did you run?" he dared.

"Because as soon as Spyke told me, I called 'dibs' and he got mad, got some people together and they chased me off." she shrugged.

They both laughed. "Claire, what are you really doing here?" he asked after they had settled down.

She shrugged. "I didn't see anything left there for me. All I saw was a bunch of bullies beating each other up. I figured if you were gone it was just a matter of time before every other bearable person met the same fate."

"But of all places to come you, come here?! They are the enemy!"

"Where else was I supposed to go? I don't want to live on the streets! This was the only safe place I could come."

"Interesting that you say it is safe here," he replied with biting sarcasm. "I seem to remember not too long ago when I was living here and this place was attacked by the government! How can you call this safe?!" he said, exasperated.

"How can you say following Magneto is safe?!" she said, frustrated. "He is the most wanted man in the world! Everyone is after him and since you are his right hand man, everyone is after you!"

She had gotten him mad now. "So you run?! You think running is going to keep you any safer?"

"At least I'm not marching into the heat of battle with thousands of weapons aimed at me!"

"At least I'm not hiding out waiting for others to figure out my future! I am out there fighting for my freedom while you run from one place to another pretending it isn't happening!"

"Shut up John! Just shut up!" five minutes of knowing he was alive and they were already arguing.

"You're only mad because you know that I am right!"

"Get out!"

He stopped short and glared at her. Her stomach turned at the sight of it. She had seen that glare turned on hundreds, but never her. He walked over to the open window and climbing over the ledge, disappeared, the glare burned into her memory right next to the first time she had ever seen him laugh.

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**So much for that happy reunion**


	14. Memories And Smoke

**I do not own X men, thank you SO MUCH for the reviews!**

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Claire started going to her classes and pretended that she was still mad. Her anger and frustration had vanished as soon as John had, but she had no way of knowing if his had. She had no way of getting in contact with him and no way of knowing if he would ever want to see her again. John Allerdyce was known for his temper and grudges. She regretted her words and wished she had held her tongue. Somehow in the excitement of having him back and not wanting to lose him again she had lost control and allowed herself to argue with him. 

Big mistake.

As much as she wished she could be mad at him for being so stubborn she knew that his temper was one of the things she liked about him. Not that that made much sense, even to her. 

She allowed herself to become friends with Bobby and Kitty. They were kind and their smiles sincere, something she hadn't seen in a long time. Kitty lived in the room next to Claire's and came over to study with her a few times. She gave Claire a strange blue candle that smelled of daisies, but it was a well meant gift and sealed their friendship, gaining a place next to Claire's window.

"Not that any of us like to talk about it," Kitty started gently while studying a few nights after Claire's argument with John. "But do you have any family or anything?"

"I lived in foster care for most of my life, me and my brother." she admitted.

"Yeah?" Most of the kids at the school were really touchy about their past since a lot of them had been kicked out roughly by their loved ones.

"Yeah. We were sent to different families but managed to stay in touch until a few years ago."

"What happened?" Kitty asked, interested.

"His letters stopped all of the sudden." she said solemnly. "I tried to go to the address he used for the return address but the people said they had never heard of Jimmy."

"I'm so sorry Claire." Kitty said.

"It's not your fault Kitty," she smiled and stared out her window. "I just wish I knew if he was alright, even if I don't know where he is, just knowing he was okay..." she trailed off.

"I understand." Kitty offered. Claire smiled at her and they went back to studying.

When Claire wished Kitty a good night, she went and immediately climbed into the shower. She took at least two showers a day, having been deprived of hot running water for a year now.

She let the warm water run over her head and drench her to her toes. She pretended it was washing away her problems, rinsing her of her mistakes, her anger, her sadness, and leaving her the Claire of yesterday. The Claire who wasn't a mutant but a normal kid.

Claire shrieked when the water suddenly went from warm to scolding. She jumped around trying to get out of the way but slipped, pinning her right leg underneath her. She turned off the water and sat at the bottom of the tub, allowing her skin to recover.

She inhaled sharply as she tried to stand. When she had steadied herself she wrapped herself in a robe the school had given her and stepped out of the shower. She glared at the shower for doing something like that to her and wondered what could have caused the change in temperature.

She limped into her room and began gathering clothes to change, drying her hair as she went. She dropped all of her clothes onto her bed and untied her robe to get dressed.

"You don't want to do that." her slightly open closet stated. Claire jumped a foot in the air and clutched her robe to her in surprise. She marched over to her closet and flung it open.

John stood next to the empty hangers, smirking at her.

"JOHN!" she nearly shrieked his name in a mixture of horror and fury. She stomped over to her bed and scooped up her clothes, then continued into the bathroom, mumbling furiously.

John winced when she slammed the door shut. He could hear her talking angrily to herself behind the door. After a minute she opened the door, fully clothed and absent of her previous anger.

John leaned against the wall and Claire sat across the room from him on her desk. They sat in an awkward silence for sometime, taking turns avoiding eye contact and examining every aspect of Claire's room. After several minutes Claire finally humbled herself enough to speak.

"I'm sorry John."

"Yeah, it was partly my fault too." he admitted.

More silence followed.

"So, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I came to find you." he told her, playing with his ignitors. "I got back the day after you left. Spyke told me you had freaked out for no reason and headed South so I figured you probably came here. Spyke isn't the most reliable guy to listen to and figured there was more to the story."

"Oh." She was a little disappointed. What had she wanted him to say? 'I was worried and had to find you?' 'I couldn't stand not being near you?' It was moments like these that she realized how delusional she was.

"So what's up with that kid with wings?" John asked, pretending to be less curious than he was.

"Warren? We met when I first got here."

"Yeah?" John left his leaning position and came and leaned on the desk next to Claire. "Where'd you two go?"

"Really high and then really low." she said, making John laugh.

"You afraid of heights?" he asked.

"No! Why do people keep asking me that?!" she smiled.

"When he put you down you looked like you were ready to drop to your knees and kiss the ground." he smiled back.

"Well I'd like to see how you'd be a thousand feet in the air with nothing between you and falling other than your grip!" she said, a little defensive.

John flicked his ignitor and a small flame came to life in his hand. The two of them gazed at it while it leapt around his hand.

"Does it ever burn you?" she asked.

"Never." he stated calmly.

"Is it warm?"

"A little, yeah."

"I'm jealous of your power, John." she smiled.

"Yeah?" he smiled too.

She reached out and pretended to try and touch the flame he held. He flicked it out and pulled back his sleeve. He slipped off the straps that wrapped around the fingers and wrist and removed the ignitor from its ever-present place in his hand.

Claire had never seen John without his ignitors, somehow she had imagined them surgically attached to him. She was amazed that they could be removed and even more amazed when he handed it to her.

She managed, with his help, to get it onto her hand. She entertained herself with flicking a few small flames into life but soon got bored since she was unable to do anything like John was doing.

Claire was satisfied with sitting silently and soaking up his presence. The wonderful smell of campfires that lingered with him, the familiar entranced look that he gave the fire. As he continued to stare at the fire she found herself sinking deeper and deeper into those eyes. The fire was no longer in his palm but had danced its way into his dark eyes. The fire had lit the way into his soul and she couldn't help but wish to step inside of it, even for a moment.

He broke his gaze and locked eyes with Claire, who tried not to be embarrassed or look like she had been staring at him.

But she could see in his eyes that he knew. In his eyes she saw all of those times that she had secretly stared at him and times that he had stared secretly at her.

She tried saying something but her lips found no words as he leaned forward and kissed her.

Claire broke her lips away from his. The direct skin contact was taking her into his memories. He leaned in and kissed her again. The memories she saw came and went rapidly, changing each time.

John was holding her, his hand, touching her cheek softly.

John ran his hands through her hair, his smokey smell enveloping her.

Claire broke away from John's lips and his memory. The scent of John was unusually strong. She looked at John, bewildered by his memory and his smell, her throat scratching painfully.

John ripped his eyes away from her and spun around like lightning. John had been blocking her view but now Claire could see the curtains of her window roaring with flames that soon reached the ceiling.

John threw his hand into the air and, using his powers, put the flames out in seconds. Claire coughed for a minute, trying to clear her throat. Apparently John's ability caused smoke not to bother him, since he seemed unaffected by the small black clouds that were slowly disappearing.

John walked over and opened the window to help with the circulation and came back to Claire as she stopped coughing.

"Are you okay?" he asked, the panic beginning to subside.

"Yeah." She smiled, her lips still tingling from their kiss.

John went over to the curtains and examined the damage. "Claire?" he turned toward her holding the candle Kitty had given her.

"Why did you leave this burning so close to the curtains?" his expression said he doubted she could be that stupid.

"But I didn't!" she exclaimed, confused. "I haven't even burned it yet." she walked over and took the candle from him, a thought forming in her mind.

"Maybe it _was _me." she said after a moment of thought.

"What do you mean? Do you not remember or something?"

"No, my power." she turned and looked at his confused expression. "You can't create fire, right?"

"Yeah." he confirmed, somewhat reluctant. He didn't like to discuss this major weakness.

"And my power makes strange reactions with other people's abilities." she paused, and felt her face grow hot. "Especially when I touch them."

"So your power lit the candle?" he said, understanding creeping into his features.

She went to explain it more, but didn't manage to form the words. There was a mischievous cloud of smoke hovering near the ceiling, the breeze from the open window blowing it closer and closer to a smoke alarm above her door. She stared as a red light began blinking rapidly and a loud shrieking siren began to bellow from the small device, calling the entire school's attention to her dorm holding Magneto's right-hand man.

She jumped at John but he was already half way out the window when she got to him. She stood next to the window watching him climb down the drainpipe when Kitty phased through her wall. Claire shut the window with a snap.

"Claire! What's going on?!" Kitty yelled above the alarm.

"My curtains-" she yelled back.

"Wait!" Kitty walked over to the alarm, ripped it off the wall and removed its batteries. Both of the girls sighed in relief at the silence.

"Now, what were you saying?" Kitty asked again.

"It was my curtains." Claire stated, pointing at the once green curtains.

Kitty went over to examine them. "That candle you gave me. I guess I put it to close to the curtains and they caught on fire." Claire lied. She felt a pang of guilt. Kitty was her friend.

Kitty picked up the blue candle that had melted into a strange blob and then looked up at the black marks the smoke had made on the ceiling above the window.

"It looks like it was pretty big." she stated, more to herself than Claire.

"Yeah."

"How did you put it out?" she asked curiously.

"Water." Another lie. Another bad lie. Suddenly Claire remembered the ignitor attached to her hand. She stuck it in her sweatshirt pocket, knowing Kitty would recognize it.

"Really?" Kitty looked at the dry bed that was beneath the window and the dry curtains.

"Yeah, I smothered it with a wet blanket." This wasn't going well.

"Oh." Kitty didn't seem convinced.

The door flew open. Logan sniffed the air and looked around quickly, his deep breathing telling them he had run a fair distance. Claire sighed in relief at the interruption. Soon Storm whirled into the room. When she saw the fire had been put out she examined the two girls to make sure they were okay.

"I guess we're going to have to get you another room, Claire." Storm announced.

Claire followed Storm to her office and got the key to her new room, claiming she was wiped out from the excitement and would answer questions later. Storm gave Logan a look to shut him up and he snarled at her and left in a bit of a huff, not believing the story he had heard from Kitty.

Later that night when the murmur of voices throughout the mansion stopped and there were no more footsteps in the hallway, Claire creeped out of her room and out onto the grounds. It had rained recently and the moonlight illuminated everything so it sparkled like diamonds. She breathed in the clean air and began walking toward the forest to look for John, ignitor strapped to her palm.

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**Join us next time for the next exciting chapter of SHE FEARS HUMANS, MUTANTS FEAR HER. Lol. Review please!**


	15. Spyke

**This chapter has some more mature stuff in it, probably between a T and M rating. You've been warned.**

**I do not own X men.**

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Claire walked through the trees surrounding the mansion, trying to shield herself from any eyes that might happen to look out their window. She called John's name softly into the semi-darkness but got no response. In their conversations he had never mentioned where he went when it got dark. The mansion was huge and the surrounding property even larger. After a while her body began to ache for sleep and she had almost turned back when she heard a voice."Hey. Over here." said the male voice. 

Claire spun around in the direction of the voice, causing her skirt to swish violently as she looked for John's outline in the shadows. Instead she saw someone she could have gone forever without seeing again.

"Spyke?!" she said incredually.

"Hey there baby, what're you doin' wand'rin' around here so late?" she noticed a large welt on his forehead, probably from her head butting him when she left. He noticed her stare.

"Yeah, you hit me pritty hard the oth'r day. Don' worry though, I forgive you." he smiled big. She nodded.

"What are you doing here Spyke?" she asked.

"I came with Pyro to look for you. He waz all worried an' needed sumone to be lookout when he climbed through your window."

"Oh." she wondered how much he knew about those climbs through her window but decided that John wouldn't talk to Spyke more than he had to. She felt flattered that John would put up with Spyke to find her.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"Back over here." he pointed to the trees behind him. "Come on, I'll take you to him."

Spyke allowed her to go first and followed behind with heavy crunching footsteps.

The trees began to get thicker and less and less moonlight became visible through the treetops. She squinted in all directions for John but had a feeling she had just walked into one of Spkye's ploys.

"Spyke! Where is-" but she wasn't able to finish. Spyke's huge arms grabbed her from behind, forcing a strange smelling cloth over her nose and mouth.

John Allerdyce wandered around the line of trees that wrapped around the X men mansion, gazing at the figure of Claire Richards some hundred feet away. As he did so he slipped his ignitor off and into his pocket, then massaged the raw skin underneath it. She was probably looking for him to give him the other one back and he figured he'd follow her, ducking into trees when she turned in his direction.

He watched her pale skirt glowing in the wind, the breeze blowing it around her knees. He watched her every movements with a small smile: The way her arm bent as she used them to move tree branches, the way her hips rocked back and forth with each footstep, her hair falling over her shoulders.

After a while she began to yawn and he started to take quick steps to meet her before she decided to go back inside.

When he was still fifty feet away he paused, his muscles becoming rigid as the sight of Spkye coming out of the trees caught his eyes.

What was he doing there? How dare he show up here after lying to his face about Claire?

Claire.

That must be it. He watched as Claire began following Spyke deeper into the forest.

What was she doing? What had they said? They were to far away for him to be able to have heard. He followed at a fast pace, wanting to save Claire from having to endure any horrible flirting from the muscle head.

He ran into a tangle of low branches that slowed him down and caused him to lose sight of them for a moment. He stood completely still, listening closely to the silence of the night for some hint as to what direction they were in, his heart beginning to pound. Something he was wrong.

"Spyke! Where is-" Claire's voice cut off suddenly. John jumped over a stump and ran in the direction of Claire's voice. He rounded a large oak tree and burst onto the scene.

Claire was lying on the ground semi conscious with Spyke crouched on top of her, ripping at her clothes with one of his arm grown spikes. For a second it seemed as if John were in two places. One of him was standing in that same spot, staring at the scene, unable to comprehend it. The other picked up a tree limb and ran at Spyke.

The tree limb hit Spyke across his back, knocking him off of Claire and sending him sprawling onto the ground. John swung the limb downward as hard as he could, but Spyke caught it in his hands, yanking it out of John's grasp. Spyke threw the limb to the side and tackled John around the waist. The two of them went rolling in the damp earth, grunting and punching.

John managed to get on top of Spyke and used the advantage to slam Spyke's head into the ground with a few punches.

With one fluid movement Spyke stabbed John in the shoulder with a home grown spike. John yelled in pain and rolled off of him, blood wetting his leather jacket.

As Spyke stood and made his way towards Claire, John went for his ignitor. He reached his hand into his jacket pocket and found it empty. He checked the other one in a panic but found nothing. It must have gotten flung somewhere in the rolling. He used his good arm to push himself up to stand.

Spyke had made his way back to Claire, who was still lying half conscious on the ground. He leaned down and caught ahold of her, using a new spike to tear at her shirt.

John, limped towards them, picking up rocks and throwing them. The first one hit Spoke in the back. Spoke ignored it. John threw another one, ignored again. John took ahold of the spike in his shoulder and gave it a quick pull. It slid out part way and he ground his teeth as he yelled, the pain almost making him collapse. Spoke began moving Claire.

He yanked it again and this time it slid out the rest of the way. He yelled out right, the whole time limping in their direction. Spoke was moving to climb onto Claire. John cocked his arm and thrust the spike into Spyke's back as hard as he could.

Spyke's scream ripped through the cool night air, violent and long.

He whipped around to John. Up until now he had treated John like a gnat, swatting him out of the way, but now he was going to kill John and they both knew it.

John backed up a few steps, trying to keep out of swinging distance from Spoke. But then the horns began growing out of his forearms. Spoke pulled them out and cocked his arms back to throw into John's chest.

John knew that at the speed Spoke could throw them and at the distance they were at, John was a dead man. He didn't bother looking around, he knew he had no weapons, no defense. He was going to die painfully. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Claire.

Then he heard a small clicking sound. If it wasn't for the fact that he heard it hundreds of times every day, he wouldn't have thought anything of it. He gave Spoke an evil grin, confusing him for a moment and halting his throw.

John raised his good arm and a giant cloud of flames hit Spoke, enveloping him in blinding orange. Spoke fell to the ground and John allowed the flame to go out. Spoke didn't move, but John wasn't looking at Spoke. He was looking past him to the near motionless body of Claire. Most of her body hadn't moved from where she had been lain, but her hand was propped upwards and a small flame from the ignitor on her hand flickered in the breeze.

He limped around Spoke and over to her. The ignitor clicked and the flame went out. John knelt down next to her.

"Claire? Claire!" he rolled her head to look at him and her eyes fluttered shut. She was out cold.

Once again John felt like he was two different people. One of them carefully slipped off his jacket, winching with each movement of his shoulder, and put it over her to keep her warm. The other sat staring at her limp body lying on the damp earth.

Her bare legs stuck out at strange angles and her arms were tangled in her hair. Her skirt had been completely shredded and her shirt had been ripped open. There were splotches of blood that stained her clothing and sat on her exposed skin and for a moment John thought she was bleeding. With a closer look it was obvious that it was not and he guessed it was from Spyke's wounds.

The night air was extremely cool now and her ripped clothing wasn't covering her sufficiently. Even with his jacket over her he knew it wasn't enough. He thought about picking her up but any movement of his arm, no matter how slight, caused him so much pain he was afraid he would drop her.

John brushed a piece of hair out of Claire's pale face and thought hard. He couldn't leave her alone, even if he thought she was safe he couldn't bring himself to leave her side. As he stared at her he found his shoulder wound begin to prickle with a warm sensation. The prickling sensation quickly grew to a searing hot, blinding him with pain. He clutched his shoulder desperately.

Where Spyke's spikes poisoned? Was he going to die after all of that?

But just as he thought this the pain subsided, leaving behind only a dull ache. He panted for breath for several seconds, trying to focus his mind again. He wiped his forehead and flinched, expecting a jab of pain from his shoulder. Nothing. He looked at his shoulder curiously. He could see through the hole in his shirt that the open wound that had once been there was now just a pink circle of cauterized flesh.

He looked back at Claire, who hadn't woken yet. Apparently Claire's powers could activate independently.

He noticed that the pain had lessened to an ache and wondered if he could now carry her to the mansion. He slipped a hand underneath her head and knees and lifted her slowly and carefully incase she had any injuries.

Claire didn't stir at all as he made his way slowly to back to the mansion. John could not see his feet or if he was about to trip on something and Claire was a hundred-something pounds of dead weight.

He got to the kitchen door of the mansion and gave if several swift kicks to serve as a knock. He knew that out of all the places in the mansion, the kitchen was the most likely to have anyone in it at this hour.

Mid-kick, Logan pulled the door open, nearly ripping it off of its hinges. When he saw the badly beaten boy and the unconscious girl in his arms he retracted his claws and pulled them inside, locking the door.

"What happened? Who did this?" Logan began to ask gruffly.

"A guy from my camp. He attacked Claire, he's still out there." Logan made for the door but John stopped him.

"No." He exchanged a serious look with Logan, telling him that Spoke was not a problem.

"Lets get you two to the infirmary, Bobby, you go get Storm."

John suddenly saw his ex best friend who must have been there behind the counter the entire time. The two stared at each other for a moment, silently agreeing that now was not the time to fight.

John followed Logan to the infirmary wing, where he had often gone for small injuries from fighting with classmates. They reached the large group of sterile rooms and found Storm already there.

"What happened?" Storm asked urgently as Logan left to go look for Spoke.

"A guy from my camp, he attacked her. He tried to- to rape her." John's voice shook a little as he realized how close Spoke had come to succeeding. He set Claire on one of the white beds and let Storm usher her into the next room.

John relaxed a little, knowing that this place had enough equipment to supply eight small hospitals. Plus he knew that Claire was in good hands with Storm.

After a few minutes Storm came into his room. "She's fine, of course. Her ability made sure of that. But you stopped him before he could do anything more than shake her up. She'll have some emotional stuff to deal with but right now I'm just grateful she is alright."

John nodded, and sighed with relief. He was done speaking for the rest of the night.

"Take off your shirt, let me bandage you up." she ordered. He discarded his torn shirt and let her look him over, cleaning out small wounds and covering him in tan band aids. She hesitated for a moment on his new pink scar and then taped up a gash above his eye with gauze.

"There you go John, now you can either stay here for the day or leave, but I'll not have you walking out of here in broad daylight." she began putting away all of her supplies in their respective drawers.

John gave her back a questioning look.

"I doubt you want anyone to see you around here anyway and I don't want anyone thinking I'm harboring a wanted mutant. I don't know why you are here in the first place," she turned around and faced him again.

"For all I know Claire is some sort of mole and this is Magneto's plots to destroy this institutions but I will let my suspicions go and allow her to stay. You, however, must leave." John began to slip his shirt back on as Storm made her way to Claire's room.

She stopped in the doorway. "I don't know exactly what happened out there John, but it looks like you are that girl's hero." she said over her shoulder. "I don't know how you'll react to this. Being a hero is a lot different than being a villain."

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**Review please.**


	16. Her Secret

**I do not own X men.**

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Claire woke up, her head against a cool, hard surface. She opened her eyes to pitch black surroundings and strained to remember where she was. The fire in her room, searching for John to return his igniter. Then she remembered.

Spkye.

Her mouth went dry as the memories flooded through her mind. She must still be in the forest. He probably just left her after...

She gulped, trying to push back the memory. She could still feel Spyke's knees digging into her legs as he kneeled on top of her. She still felt the spike scraping her skin as he shredded her clothes.

She sat up and rocked back and forth dangerously, still a little woozy. She realized that it was too dark and too quiet for her to still be in the forest. Where was she? She slipped her feet over the side of the bed she was on and tried sliding onto the floor.

She steadied herself against the bed and strained her eyes against the darkness, but didn't see anything. She let go of the bed and tried to feel her way to through the dark, but within a few seconds she had lost her strength and collapsed onto the floor.

She sat panting in the sea of black that surrounded her, wondering where she was. Had Spyke brought her here? Was she dead?

She felt exhausted, even though she knew she had only walked a few feet. She remembered the funny smelling cloth that had been put over her face and how it had made her completely helpless.

She tried to talk but couldn't form words, tried to scream for help but it came out as mumbles. She tried to push Spyke off of her, to fight back, but could not lift her arms. She felt a rock pressed against her hand and tried to use it as a weapon, but she couldn't wrap her fingers around it.

The panic that had come to her began to return and that, mixed with the exhaustion that was quickly overcoming her, caused tears to begin trailing down her face.

She was lost, alone, and wished she were dead rather than have these memories flowing through her mind. A sob shook her shoulders awkwardly, zapping her of any remaining energy.

Then suddenly, the lights flipped on and Storm was standing in the doorway, looking down at her.

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John and Storm both looked at the dark doorway, listening to the sudden sound.

"Claire-" John said, realizing it was her sobs and starting for her room.

"No John." Storm got in his way, blocking his path to the door. "I'll take care of this."

John watched her open the door and enter the other room, leaving the door ajar for him to listen through.

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Storm rushed over and knelt down next to Claire, who was no longer crying but staring at her Professor in surprise.

"Storm? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, Claire?" she asked, perplexed. She put her arms around her student. "You're in the mansion, it's okay. You're safe now."

She helped support Claire as she climbed back onto the bed.

"Claire you should really get some sleep. You've been through a lot and we can always talk in the morning." Storm said.

"I don't want to sleep." Claire said quietly, dreading the dreams that would come to her.

"Claire..." Storm began, sitting next to her. "What happened out there?"

"Spyke. One of Magneto's men. He tricked me into going into the woods and...attacked me." she gulped.

"Claire, you don't have to right away but I need you to tell me exactly what happened out there, okay?"

"Can I tell you now?" Claire asked.

"Now? Are you sure?" Storm said, looking uncertain.

"Might as well get it over with, right?" Claire said, almost in a whisper.

"Alright, but only if you are sure." Storm agreed.

"He..." she tried to force herself to say the word. "My clothes." she said, looking down at herself. She still had them on as they clung to her by a few strips of fabric.

"He tore them when he..." again her tongue refused to say it.

"Claire, what he tried to do to you...that's all it was...he tried but John stopped him before he could do anything." Storm said gently.

"John?" Claire asked, suddenly remembering his face. Spyke had been hit from behind and had rolled off of her. Then she had seen John.

"Where is he?" Claire asked, feeling an uncontrollable desire to see him.

"He left."

"What? Why?" she asked, confused.

"He is one of Magneto's men. He doesn't belong here. He knew that."

Claire barely nodded.

She heard the two men fight as if through a long tunnel. They seemed so far off.

"He won't see me." she thought. "He is going to leave."

She tried calling to him but her tongue only formed gibberish. She tried getting up but her motor skills seemed to have been turned off. She searched through her hazy mind for some way to get his attention before he left. Then she remembered the igniter attached to her hand.

She tried lifting it up and flicking it but her arm only rolled out a little from her side, her hand flopping uselessly. She tried flicking the igniter.

Her fingers didn't move.

She focused on her hand and getting the energy to her useless fingers. They moved slightly, but not enough to create a flame. Darkness began to cloud the edges of her vision as she focused all of her energy and determination through her arm, into her hand and fingers. She felt the igniter click, but didn't see anything as she began to black out.

The last thing she remembered was John's face appearing as a speck surrounded by the immense black that was her mind. When she saw him she knew she was okay and allowed herself relax and she passed out.

"Claire?" Storm asked, breaking her out of the nightmarish memory.

Even if Spyke had failed in his attempt to rape her, it had still been one of the scariest moments of her life. "Storm?" she asked.

"Yes Claire?"

"My power is supposed to take kinetic force from attacks and allow me to use them on others." she paused. "I could feel Spyke's horns as he tore my clothes. He hit me, but why couldn't I hit him back?" she looked up as Storm, confused as to why her usually unstoppable power had failed her the one time she needed it.

Storm paused, thinking the question over. "Well, even though you have not learned how to control your power yet, somewhere in your mind lies the trigger to it. Whatever chemical he used on you impaired your motor skills and must have impaired other parts of your brain, including the part that uses your power."

* * *

John leaned against the wall, listening to their conversation. Something weird was going on. Claire's description of her power was so far off. Taking kinetic force and using it on others? Since when had he seen her power do that? Maybe it was just one of the reactions her power had had with someone. He listened for more.

"Storm." Claire said. "What am I supposed to do?"

"About what?" Storm asked.

"About everything! About Spyke, about my stupid powers, about-"

"Your powers are not stupid, Claire." Storm said, cutting her off. John could almost see the intense look she must have been giving Claire.

"Yeah? Well it's not like they are doing me any good! The one time I need them, they leave me and I'm left more than helpless! What is the point of _having_ them if I can't control it and I can't even use it in a useful situation!"

Storm's voice was calm and quiet. "Claire, your power has helped you plenty of times. Not only has it saved you the pain of everyday cuts and bruises, but it saved your life when your boyfriend attacked you. Just because this one time it wasn't there, doesn't mean it has never done any good."

John could hear the tears in Claire's voice. Her voice was muffled, like she was speaking from behind an embrace of Storm's.

"This was a really important time."

John straightened himself and swallowed. He couldn't stand here and listen to Claire's wracking sobs and he knew that he would regret it if he went in there with Storm. He walked over to another door and exited into the hallway, slipping out of the mansion quietly.

He was deep in thought, not just of the events of the night but what he had heard Claire and Storm saying. One thing was sure, Claire had been lying to the Brotherhood. Somehow she had kept her secret for nearly a year. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around it but it somehow made sense.

Claire Richards had two power.

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	17. Jimmy

**I do not own X men.**

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Claire wandered through the mansion of the late Charles Xavier looking for Warren. She had checked in the kitchen, in the maze and in the skies but hadn't seen him anywhere. She was finally walking down the corridor to his room feeling a little uneasy. It was ridiculous, she knew it, but she couldn't stand the thought of being in a secluded place with him, or any guy for that matter. It had only been three days since she had been attacked and it was still fresh in her mind. She had told Warren next to nothing about that night except that she had been attacked. He seemed to have figured out the rest from her unfaltering silence. 

She stopped in front of his door and took a deep breath, preparing herself to turn down any invitation to enter. However, before she could knock the door opened and there stood Warren.

"Claire?"

"Warren, I've been looking for you." she told him.

He looked surprised. It was the first time she had sought him out since the attack. "Oh. Sorry Claire, but I'm about to leave." he admitted apologetically.

"What?" she asked, confused. "Where are you going?"

"My father's lab." he said straight faced.

"Your father's lab?!" she exclaimed in surprise. "But didn't you come here to get away from him and that place?"

"Yes, but I heard that the X Men are leaving, Magneto plans on attacking the labs. I have to go make sure he doesn't hurt my father."

"Magneto?" the war that Magneto had preached about for so long seemed to finally be happening. "Warren, Magneto is very dangerous, I think you should let Storm and Logan take care of this." she had seen firsthand what Magneto and his army could do and did not want her friend to be put up against that.

"I have to Claire, he's my father. The only reason he researched for a cure was to try to give me a normal life. This whole thing is my fault-"

"You can't blame yourself for being a mutant! You can't do this Warren! I won't let you!" she exclaimed, determined.

"You can't stop me Claire." he said solemnly.

"Have you talked to Storm? Does she know you are doing this?" she asked, a little frantic.

"I think she has already left." he replied.

"Well we'll just see." she grabbed his arm and pulled him toward Storm's office. He didn't fight her but went willingly. She knew that even if Storm said no Warren would still go rushing off to save his dad. He was noble like that.

"Storm?" Claire called into Professor Xavier's old study. The door was ajar so Claire took a step inside.

"Logan? Mr. McCoy?" but as she looked around she knew they weren't there. The study that was usually a congregating place for the X Men was empty, the television on and muted.

"They aren't here and I need to go." Warren informed her, trying to be gentle about ignoring her wishes.

"No! Warren, you don't understand! Magneto has to be a level 3, probably a 4-"

"What are you talking about?" he said, puzzled at her Brotherhood jargon.

She cast her eyes around the empty room for help. She saw a stack of files on Xavier's old desk and marched over to them. She began sifting through the files of mutants.

"What are you doing?" Warren asked, uneasy about her going through mutants' personal files.

"Looking for Magneto's file. He is too powerful for you Warren!" she moved files of students and Brotherhood members around, information that Xavier had acquired on their abilities and lives.

"He would tear you to pieces without so much as a second thought! He-" she stopped suddenly and pulled her hand back from the files as if they had bitten her.

"What?" Warren asked, coming closer to see what she was staring at. He came around the desk and saw a file with a boy's picture paper clipped to it. The boy was 12 or 13 and had no hair.

"Jimmy?" Warren said, reading the name underneath the picture.

"How?" was all Claire said.

"Do you know him?" Warren asked.

"He's my brother." she told him, not looking up from the picture. She hadn't seen or heard from her brother in years. He had been about ten when she had last seen him. This picture was recent. It had to have been taken after his letters had stopped.

"Oh." Warren said, looking through the contents of the file.

"What?" Claire asked, breaking out of her thoughts.

"Your brother is at my father's lab." he read.

"What?!" Claire said, shocked.

"He is the source of the cure." he continued.

"Jimmy? I didn't even know that he had a power..." she said, more to herself than him.

"This isn't good." Warren said.

"What isn't?" she asked, trying to make sense of her thoughts.

"Magneto hates the curse. He is going there to stop anyone who is involved in making it." Warren said, looking at her seriously.

Claire's eyes widened. If Magneto got hold of the source of the cure he would be sure to destroy it, it didn't matter if it meant killing a thirteen year old.

"Warren, you're going to San Francisco."

"Yes." he nodded.

"And you're taking me with you."

* * *

John sat on the edge of the city of San Francisco along with all of the Brotherhood. Magneto was giving another speech and for once John wasn't listening with bated breath. 

Claire had lied to him. She hadn't told him about her second power. She had lied when she claimed her horrible boyfriend story wasn't true. What else had she lied about?

John wasn't even sure he cared. She wasn't the first that had lied to him. He tried to conjure up feelings of anger.

Nothing.

All he saw was Claire smiling at him, Claire laughing. He saw her gazing at the fire in his palm. He saw her startled expression when the curtains had caught on fire. He saw her on the forest floor, clothes ripped.

He shook himself mentally. He regretted leaving her at the mansion. He knew she was perfectly safe but he also knew she needed him.

He also knew she had lied to him.

He wondered if Storm had told her that Spyke was alive. Logan had found him regaining consciousness in the woods and Storm had forced him to take him to a hospital and turned him in to the police. As if that was going to do any good. But Storm wouldn't just let Logan finish Spyke off.

John wondered if Claire had any idea that her attacker was lying chained to a bed not a hundred miles from her.

He hoped she didn't. He thought of how much worry it would cause her.

_It's not like it matters _he thought bitterly. _She can just use her power to help her._

John looked up as Magneto finished his speech. They would attack the lab the evening of the next day, right now they were to rest.

He leaned against a rock and looked up at the slowly appearing stars, not able to help but think of Claire.

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